Hey I wanted to say thanx for the nice things you said on my earlier posting and on my thread. I also wanted to say DON'T SELL YOURSELF SHORT! I never was much of a Ravenloft fan because of the, as you call it, "Wuthering Heights" aspects; but I'm quite keen to see your version! It sounds awesome! {edit: and when gamers are concerned, you really can't go wrong with a 'cleavage rule'.}

To give my wife credit, it's really quite genius. I would've never thought it up myself. But gamers should find that a well-fitting, gravity-defying padded bra will perplex their characters just as much as it does them in real life. I can't wait to start playtesting this. Just trudging through what I'm calling the "research paper" portion of the book now to get to the parts that will pour out of my head like a swarm of "Insects from Shaggai" clay-sculpted by Ray Harryhausen.

Tortog wrote:

Keep stabbing that keyboard 'till it bleeds for you!

I want to put this on a banner and stick it behind me at work. I also want my own fog machine at work. And one day I will make that a reality.

Here's hoping. I've got about 10 more pages of "research paper" to finish. Then it's on to the "fun part". I'll start releasing some previews when I can. And discussing some of the details with the community as well. Probably starting with the new classes. What they're named and where/when they will appear. There's an open question about which classes will appear in TA and whether or not a couple should wait until TG.

2012 should be interesting. I can't wait to start engaging the DCC community on this release.

So, if Ravenloft took a right turn at the corner of doom and despair, you can pretty well be sure that this will be taking that same car, outfitting it with a silver crucifix hood ornament and a huge stake sticking out of the front bumper. Then driving that car off the highway, smashing through a graveyard, slamming through the plate glass window of a lingerie shoppe and piercing the unbeating heart of the Bride of Dracula.

It would be like if the guys from Gamma World were accidentally assigned to write the Ravenloft setting in 1984. Or if Geoffrey McKinney and James Raggi IV developed an unhealthy obsession with Ingrid Pitt, mainlined a gallon of vampire blood and typed madly awesome stuff.

With marketing like this, who needs art? (Just kidding, I'm going to have art. Did the flyer myself while mainlining a gallon of vampire blood I bought off Amazon.)

If TA & TG are half as funny as this post I will buy them.

_________________"When creating your character,choose an ethical system that can justify nearly any fit of temper, greed, cowardice, or vindictiveness, for example, Chaotic Violent..."

I've been radio-silent for a while now because I'm deep-deep-deep into the character classes. There are 8 of them and they've been written and re-written now more than a few times. Probably have another overhaul to go before they're dripping with awesome. Gone are the fantasy archetypes of Halfling, Thief, Fighter, etc. They've been replaced by action-oriented or straight-up Hammer archetypes. I'll be releasing a list with short captions sometime in the near future. And by near future, I mean whenever someone pops onto the thread and says "Hey *********, what classes are in this thing?"

Working on the 0-Level Occupations at the moment. Very, very Hammer-inspired. No gong-farmers. No farmers. Lots of turn-of-the-19th-century Aught Levels. These guys (and gals) aren't big on the fantastic-meter but they look like they'd be really fun to play nonetheless.

After this, it's on to some Rituals. TG has a full repertoire of Rituals (from Level 1-5) but TA has to have a few for one of the character classes. The class modeled most after Van Helsing. Cushing, not Stoker. As a general rule with all things, I leaned towards Cushing whenever a choice presented itself.

"The worthy GM never purposely kills players' PCs, He presents opportunities for the rash and unthinking players to do that all on their own." -- Gary Gygax"Don't ask me what you need to hit. Just roll the die and I will let you know!" -- Dave Arneson

I'll put up a more in-depth post or something soon. But the short answer is...

Quote:

Transylvanian Adventures features 8 new classes tailored for adventuring in a setting of mythic Transylvania. These classes are based on archetypes of the types of characters found in the novels and films that inspired the game! There are 8 new classes in Transylvanian Adventures. They are listed alphabetically below:

Charger

Exotic

Half-Breed

Hunter

Polymath

Survivor

Theorist

Valiant

What's more... These classes can be used as-is in any setting that supports DCC. I don't know why anyone wouldn't want to use them with TA/TG. But... the classes are, for the most part, genre-neutral and could easily turn any existing fantasy setting into a high-action, low-magic setting.

I wouldn't say that the classes are "balanced" with the existing DCC classes. I mean, I think they'd play fine together. But I'm not sure how that would translate with, say, a Polymath and a Cleric or a Theorist and a Wizard in the same party.

As mentioned before, I'll leak out a few more details about each class as time goes on. I'll start out with a post/blog with a brief blurb about what each class is and what archetype it represents.

I've just finished cleaning up the Classes section for Transylvanian Adventures. Due to space concerns and containing the scope of the first book, I'm having to move 3 Classes to the Transylvanian Grimoire. Those three classes are... The Half-Breed, The Exotic and The Theorist.

That means there will only be one "spellcasting" class in the first book -- The Polymath.

But I did add a new character class to TA: The Redeemable. No, he's not a coupon. But that keeps the number of classes introduced in Transylvanian Adventures at 6: The Valiant, The Survivor, The Polymath, The Hunter, The Charger and the new one (The Redeemable).

There are a number of rules tweaks in TA that build off of what's in Dungeon Crawl Classics. I'm looking forward to sharing some of those soon.

But for now, I'll introduce the first class in Transylvanian Adventures... THE VALIANT!

Quote:

The Valiant is a man or woman whom destiny has thrown into the greater conflict between good and evil. The Valiant can come from any walk of life but all hold in common a lack of martial prowess for which they account with exceptional virtue and bravery. This class is the Everyman or the Girl Next Door who is thrust into extraordinary circumstances.

And before I forget...

The inspiration for this class is any young, attractive do-gooder that is featured in a Hammer Horror film. An example would include Paul from Dracula Has Risen From The Grave, Charles Kent from Dracula: Prince of Darkness or a character like Frodo in the Lord of the Rings (sans-Hobbitdom of course). I can share more info if anyone is interested...

I am very very interested in this class. Would this be the typical horror protagonist that trust into horror situations comes out on top because of sheer will and succeeds where more trained people would fail?

Also as a sidenote - how compatible would those classes be to vanilla DCC?

And - I am very interested in the Half-Breed and The Exotic...any more info on those?

I am very very interested in this class. Would this be the typical horror protagonist that trust into horror situations comes out on top because of sheer will and succeeds where more trained people would fail?

Also as a sidenote - how compatible would those classes be to vanilla DCC?

And - I am very interested in the Half-Breed and The Exotic...any more info on those?

Hi Zdanman. You've hit the nail on the head with the Valiant. It is the typical horror protagonist and has a couple of unique abilities that help it excel in that role. Not a lot of combat prowess. Not a lot of skills. But when the chips are down, the Valiant will come through.

As far as compatibility... I think the TA classes would be fine with the DCC classes at lower levels. But at higher levels, I'm not sure how it would shake out.

It's interesting because I just wrote a sidebar on this topic in the Classes chapter.

TA has no magical healing. And the classes are built with that in mind. So the presence of a Cleric in a party of TA adventurers would be... interesting. Additionally, TA characters have a different approach to class features that could alternately make them more or less powerful than DCC characters.

They're not designed to be mixed and matched. But if a group is prepared to roll with the punches and doesn't have a real concern about shared spotlight time and balanced classes, I think they would be alright.

That said, the classes in TA are universal enough that they could be used in a low-magic fantasy setting all by themselves. Just ignore references to firearms that you don't want in your S&S setting and you've got a really solid grounding for a Solomon Kane, Conan or similar sort of campaign.

Thanks for the interest on the Exotic and the Half-Breed. I'm trying to release info slowly. But the next two that I put out there will be the Exotic and Half-Breed. I have to say the Half-Breed is one of my favorites. And the Exotic is a very neat class too. I will offer two sources of inspiration for the classes, however. One is Vampire Hunter D. And the other is Mani from Brotherhood of the Wolf.

There are other inspirations for those classes too. But those are the ones I kept going back to when putting the classes together.

I am very very interested in this class. Would this be the typical horror protagonist that trust into horror situations comes out on top because of sheer will and succeeds where more trained people would fail?

Also as a sidenote - how compatible would those classes be to vanilla DCC?

And - I am very interested in the Half-Breed and The Exotic...any more info on those?

Hi Zdanman. You've hit the nail on the head with the Valiant. It is the typical horror protagonist and has a couple of unique abilities that help it excel in that role. Not a lot of combat prowess. Not a lot of skills. But when the chips are down, the Valiant will come through.

As far as compatibility... I think the TA classes would be fine with the DCC classes at lower levels. But at higher levels, I'm not sure how it would shake out.

It's interesting because I just wrote a sidebar on this topic in the Classes chapter.

TA has no magical healing. And the classes are built with that in mind. So the presence of a Cleric in a party of TA adventurers would be... interesting. Additionally, TA characters have a different approach to class features that could alternately make them more or less powerful than DCC characters.

They're not designed to be mixed and matched. But if a group is prepared to roll with the punches and doesn't have a real concern about shared spotlight time and balanced classes, I think they would be alright.

That said, the classes in TA are universal enough that they could be used in a low-magic fantasy setting all by themselves. Just ignore references to firearms that you don't want in your S&S setting and you've got a really solid grounding for a Solomon Kane, Conan or similar sort of campaign.

I love me some Solomon Kane. Would he be modeled after one of the classes in Transilvanian Adventures?

Also I hear what you say about lack of mix and matching classes. Shame because some of those sound really cool. Would the presence of a wizard or cleric really unbalance things that much? I can only guess that some of those classes would mesh well with Swords And Sorcery game. The Valiant would fit perfectly in my world. He would be the village blacksmith venturing out into the adventuring world to help his parents that were turned to stone by the evil wizard A'Ccept. Not much skills, not really combat savvy, but brave and having a will of iron to go on. I think that fit in a fantasy campaign.

But any possible details on the Exotic and Half-Breed? Are talking Half-Breed as in for example dhampir characters?

I love me some Solomon Kane. Would he be modeled after one of the classes in Transilvanian Adventures?

Also I hear what you say about lack of mix and matching classes. Shame because some of those sound really cool. Would the presence of a wizard or cleric really unbalance things that much? I can only guess that some of those classes would mesh well with Swords And Sorcery game. The Valiant would fit perfectly in my world. He would be the village blacksmith venturing out into the adventuring world to help his parents that were turned to stone by the evil wizard A'Ccept. Not much skills, not really combat savvy, but brave and having a will of iron to go on. I think that fit in a fantasy campaign.

But any possible details on the Exotic and Half-Breed? Are talking Half-Breed as in for example dhampir characters?

Solomon Kane would be a Hunter.

I think mixing and matching would be on a class-by-class basis. It's not something I'm going to playtest extensively. But so many things are situational. A DCC Thief would step on a lot of the TA classes' toes. There's no one class that has all those Thief skills. They're spread out over all the classes. However... the TA classes might steal some of the Thief's fire too. Because they're more competent at what the Thief does, until the Thief hits 7th or 8th level.

The Valiant is an odd class. The Valiant is assumed to not be a polished combatant or have an real adventuring skills. The Valiant might develop some proficiencies over time. But a Valiant won't be finding traps and secret doors. That said, it would be worth throwing a Valiant in with the DCC classes. It's already assumed that he's not a prototypical combat fighter. And he'd make a Halfling in DCC look a little superfluous. The Valiant is much more Frodo than Yoda in the Clone Wars, if you get my drift.

There are some other odd classes like that. The Hunter might be a good one for DCC. As would the Redeemable. The Exotic definitely fills a class role that DCC does not have. And it would be interesting to see if the Charger would wind up with a better killcount than the DCC Warrior. I think the losers in a mashup would be the Polymath and the Theorist. Honestly, if you ditch the Cleric and have the Theorist, Wizard and Elf all using the same collection of magic spells (either DCC or TG) it would probably all be just fine.

I'll release more on the Exotic and Half-Breed in the days/weeks to come. This is all still in early stages so I don't want to over-extend my non-existant marketing campaign at this time.

The Half-Breed could be Dhampir. That's definitely an option. But the class allows the player to decide what's he's half of. So a Half-Breed could be a anything, really. It's one of the most customizable classes in the game. In any D&D game, really. The assumption is that the half-breed doesn't know what his heritage is. Over time as his abilities emerge, the player can make a clear distinction that the character is part-whatever. Or maybe even a reincarnation of something or other. It's pretty wide open.

I love me some Solomon Kane. Would he be modeled after one of the classes in Transilvanian Adventures?

Also I hear what you say about lack of mix and matching classes. Shame because some of those sound really cool. Would the presence of a wizard or cleric really unbalance things that much? I can only guess that some of those classes would mesh well with Swords And Sorcery game. The Valiant would fit perfectly in my world. He would be the village blacksmith venturing out into the adventuring world to help his parents that were turned to stone by the evil wizard A'Ccept. Not much skills, not really combat savvy, but brave and having a will of iron to go on. I think that fit in a fantasy campaign.

But any possible details on the Exotic and Half-Breed? Are talking Half-Breed as in for example dhampir characters?

Solomon Kane would be a Hunter.

I think mixing and matching would be on a class-by-class basis. It's not something I'm going to playtest extensively. But so many things are situational. A DCC Thief would step on a lot of the TA classes' toes. There's no one class that has all those Thief skills. They're spread out over all the classes. However... the TA classes might steal some of the Thief's fire too. Because they're more competent at what the Thief does, until the Thief hits 7th or 8th level.

The Valiant is an odd class. The Valiant is assumed to not be a polished combatant or have an real adventuring skills. The Valiant might develop some proficiencies over time. But a Valiant won't be finding traps and secret doors. That said, it would be worth throwing a Valiant in with the DCC classes. It's already assumed that he's not a prototypical combat fighter. And he'd make a Halfling in DCC look a little superfluous. The Valiant is much more Frodo than Yoda in the Clone Wars, if you get my drift.

There are some other odd classes like that. The Hunter might be a good one for DCC. As would the Redeemable. The Exotic definitely fills a class role that DCC does not have. And it would be interesting to see if the Charger would wind up with a better killcount than the DCC Warrior. I think the losers in a mashup would be the Polymath and the Theorist. Honestly, if you ditch the Cleric and have the Theorist, Wizard and Elf all using the same collection of magic spells (either DCC or TG) it would probably all be just fine.

I'll release more on the Exotic and Half-Breed in the days/weeks to come. This is all still in early stages so I don't want to over-extend my non-existant marketing campaign at this time.

The Half-Breed could be Dhampir. That's definitely an option. But the class allows the player to decide what's he's half of. So a Half-Breed could be a anything, really. It's one of the most customizable classes in the game. In any D&D game, really. The assumption is that the half-breed doesn't know what his heritage is. Over time as his abilities emerge, the player can make a clear distinction that the character is part-whatever. Or maybe even a reincarnation of something or other. It's pretty wide open.

I'll say this - you just made me buy Transilvanian Adventures for 120%. This stuff really sounds badass and expands on DCC weird, gonzo vibe in a meaningful way. I love it. Bring on the options I say.

Also if the Half-Breed is modular my players will love this. I love options within a class - it makes the class each class unique and meaningful. I cannot wait to see the product.

I'll say this - you just made me buy Transilvanian Adventures for 120%. This stuff really sounds badass and expands on DCC weird, gonzo vibe in a meaningful way. I love it. Bring on the options I say.

Also if the Half-Breed is modular my players will love this. I love options within a class - it makes the class each class unique and meaningful. I cannot wait to see the product.

Thanks, Zdanman. I'm hoping people enjoy the game. If you think what you've read expands on DCC's weird vibe, wait until you read the magic. I should post a spell or two in the near sometime. I wouldn't say TA is "gonzo" or, if it is, I'd say it's gonzo in a different way from DCC. Nobody is going to be having their head turned into a chicken head in TA. TA and TG definitely put more focus on the weird. There are gonzo elements. But they are more in-genre with Hammer Horror. I mean, I could see people spoofing on it and having a good time. But the emphasis is more on the players being able to create their own gonzo fun. As opposed to pointing that path out for them.

All the classes are "modular". At 1st level, most classes would be pretty much identical. Much like DCC, two 1st level Valiants would be differentiated by what they were at 0-Level. Their Occupations. As time goes on, players are able to choose more abilities for their characters and change them towards a different sort of Valiant than the other guy. I mean, they're still Valiants. But one might be more focused on combat, another might be focused more on a party leader type of role (with a focus on "healing" similar to what a Warlord might do in 4e) -- while another just continues on the lucky sort of route.

And as they progress, each class is capable of "upgrading" their chosen abilities. Such that, they are more divergent from one another over time. Like wildly so.

While two 1st level Valiants play pretty similarly, at 6th level they'd be completely different in play. That wouldn't be true for 2 Thieves in most versions of D&D.

The DCC approach is to give all the classes everything up front. In TA, it's a little different. There's a base from which all classes build. It's still very much rooted in OD&D. In fact, most of the classes are mechanical variations of the "Fighting Man". But the customizations. Well, I hope they go over well.

The Half-Breed is distinct because part of its customization can be random. And that's pretty awesome, IMO. A Half-Breed is like a box of chocolates...

I'd also like to add that this isn't any sort of 4e-ification. The writeups for almost all the classes in TA are actually shorter than the writeups for the classes in DCC. There's no section on Feats or Powers or anything. This is all done through an understanding of the game's underlying mechanics.

Barring a few rules modifications, most of these classes would be right at home in Swords & Wizardry.

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